Perfect Union  a saga of the DC comics universe
by aperfectunion
Summary: The week before September 11th, Superman made the decision to leave Earth. His mother received a good-bye phone call. Lois Lane didn't even get a note. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do.  See profile for FULL summary/
1. Lois Lane  September 11, 2001

_**A Perfect Union**_

Rating: G

**Lois Lane** – _September 11, 2001_

Lois Lane didn't get sick. At least this had been a fact she claimed and pretty well executed for a number of years. From the common head cold to strep to a bladder infection, she was at work, reeling in stories.

So to wake up that morning and spend half an hour in front of a toilet was not something she was very happy about, nor was the fact that she couldn't even keep water down. Mexican the night before appeared to have been a very bad idea.

Her doctor, concerned with this sudden sickly behavior, had the front receptionist put her call directly through to him so he could tell her it was very important that she come in for blood work and an overall check-up. They would be open by seven.

Lois didn't have time for a shower. It was 6:50.

She left the doctor's office with no word beyond _I'll have the blood work results before lunch_. Ugh. He knew Lois wasn't the sit-and-wait kind of patient. And she arrived at the Daily Planet less than an hour late, which wasn't unheard of.

"Good morning, Lois. Sleep through your alarm?" asked Jimmy, smiling bright.

"No." She kept walking, ignoring his concerned reply. At least her stomach didn't seem to be waging war against her anymore. Perhaps one of those saltines in her desk with a nice decaffeinated ginger ale from the vending machine.

"CHIEF!"

Lois looked around the room for the source of the shout. So did everyone else. "CHIEF, the TV, you—you have to turn it on!" It was some kid from copy. His head poked around the doorframe from the break room.

"What are you on about, Hawkins?" Perry came out of his office.

"The—the Twin Towers—World Trade Center—a plane, it—uh—"

Lois's interest peaked. She walked over to the LCD TV that hung above the newsroom and grabbed the remote from its Velcroed home on a support beam. In her other hand she balanced her bland morning snack.

Perry joined her. "I must say, Lois, that's a very different morning drink choice for you. It's not black and full of caffeine."

She glared at him but said nothing the TV came on. "What channel, Hawkins?"

"Take your pick."

The TV warmed up. While the little green light in the corner flashed, the sound came in. A woman was saying, "…very little information at this point, but eye witnesses assure me the smoke billowing from the north tower was caused by an airplane collision. No one has any further details at this current time."

The picture sparked to life. The CNN reporter stood on a New York street, the chaos of rescue vehicles, people, and news teams scurrying behind her. Perry moved closer to Lois, steadying her. Funny, she didn't remember starting to sway. But she was grateful for Perry's grip.

"There are rumors of a terrorist attack, but that cannot be confirmed at this time. The plane is still unidentified—"

She cut off. The camera focused up at the burning North Tower. People screamed. A plane came out of nowhere, swung a turn, and flew directly into the South Tower. Had it have been a movie, it would've been some of the best special effects ever seen.

But those weren't special effects. The people screaming were not actors. And the news team was completely silent. What was there to say?

Four days ago, Lois had been sitting in a conference room in the south tower, waiting for an interview with some international trade officials. Four days ago—

"Lois? Lois!"

Her legs gave out. She couldn't remember falling to the floor, but she was there, collapsed in a heap, crying. Lois Lane didn't cry, but she didn't care. She cried, and she cried without caring what anyone thought of Lois Lane in a crumpled up heap on the floor.

"Lois…" Perry's voice was softer than usual.

"Where's Superman?"

He frowned. "You can usually answer that question better than the rest of us."

Lois tried to stand, but Perry kept her on the floor. "Lois, honey, you need to stay down for a bit, I think. You're not looking so good."

She shook her head. "Where is he? He needs to be in New York for this!"

"And I'm sure he will be as soon as he finds out. This is breaking news, obviously."

They watched, the newsroom gathering around them, Lois and Perry staying on the floor, watching the news unfold. "How do we even cover this Perry?" Lois asked about half an hour later, after reports arrived of a plane hitting the Pentagon. "Anything we write will sound like cardboard, and will be old news."

He finally allowed her up onto her feet. "I'll worry about that. For now, I want you to concentrate on finding Superman. Sure wish we had Kent here to help you."

She frowned and looked over at the vacant desk. Kent hadn't been seen in a week. Apparently he was in Smallville visiting his mother, but his desk looked awfully vacant. He'd even taken his pens with him. "Okay, chief. I'll—I'll see what I can do."

The only thing she could think of was to go up to the roof. She popped her ginger ale open and took it with her. The sky over Metropolis was a beautiful blue; she couldn't even imagine what it must have looked like over New York.

"Superman!"

She waited. He didn't come. He hadn't come for a week.

"Superman!"

Metropolis sounded strangely quiet below her. A squadron of fighter jets came in from the west, circling the city, their Mach I engines drowning out what little of the traffic she could hear below.

He still didn't come.

Her phone rang, its generic ring tone. The doctor's office. "Hello?"

"Lois, I have your test results. It is not a stomach bug, like I thought, and it is not a deficiency imbalance. It's much simpler than that. Your hormone levels indicate you are pregnant."

The last word rang in her ear, long after her phone had dropped out of her grip to the street below.


	2. KalEl August 1, 2001

_**A Perfect Union**_

Rating: PG-13

**Kal-El** – _August 1, 2001_

Kal-El woke in the middle of the night with Lois curled against him. It felt good, like coming home, to have his hand on her narrow hip, her soft cheek pressed against his skin, her hair splayed over his chest, tickling. Her slight body fit against him in just about every way possible.

It was easy to relive the night before, the quiet moments of intimacy, the intensity of their passion – Lois's face still held the flush from their lovemaking. He moved his palm along her jaw, thumbing her swollen lips. Her breath warmed his fingertips.

How long had he been imagining this? For how long had he honed in on Lois's heartbeat just so he could fall asleep at night? Every save was torturous—to have her that near him and not be able to lean in and kiss those lips. To feel her body flush against his and not have their legs tangled, her hips dancing in gentle motions against him.

And now—now it was his reality.

He couldn't help but smile as he stared at the top of Lois's head. Her hair was silk through his fingers. He remembered the way she arched her back and purred when he threaded his fingers into it and tugged, just slightly. The noises she made—her mewls and gasps and whimpers—were engrained into his memory. They would haunt him every second she was away from him.

Kal-El shivered, a tremor that moved through his entire body. At the movement, Lois shifted, lifting her head. Her eyes, heavy-lidded, blinked up at him. "Hi," she said, her voice husky from sex and sleep.

"Hi," he echoed.

Lois rolled away from him and stretched like a cat, her hands settled low on his stomach. "I think you've worn me out," she said.

He chuckled and slid his hand over her shoulder and down her arm. He nudged her closer to him and captured her lips with his. She tasted sweet, her tongue slipping between his lips and raking along the roof of his mouth.

His hand cupped her shoulder, and he tugged her into his lap with little effort. She shivered, and he pulled the slippery silver sheets up along her back as she lowered herself against his chest. It was easy to slip his arms around her, holding her as close to him as possible. They could only get closer if he shifted just an inch and she sank onto him.

Her mouth left his, and he opened his eyes to find Lois closer yet, watching him. She smiled. "I love you," she said.

"I love you," he returned. His fingers found her hair, and he cradled her in his lap. "I could stay like this forever." He kept his voice low, his mouth near his ear. "I want to stay like this forever. Will you?"

She shivered again, and he rubbed the sheets to her skin. Lois tipped her face up to his, brushing their mouths for just a second. "Yes," she said. Her face brightened. "It's all I've ever wanted."

It was difficult for Kal-El to hear those words. To understand them and believe them. It was difficult because he could hear his father's voice telling him that he must not put one human life above another. He was terrified of what that meant, given his powerful feelings for Lois. He constantly went out of his way to ensure her safety. If anything happened to her—

Kal-El dropped a kiss onto the top of Lois's head.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

He shook his head. "How beautiful you look," he said. "How happy I am right now." And that's how he felt, he realized. Unbounded happiness. If it was possible to smile forever, Kal-El thought he might. And if he could stay in bed with Lois forever, that meant – that meant he could just as easily stop doing the job he was born for.

With his arms still settled comfortably around Lois, he shifted her closer and kissed her softly, pulling away as she yawned. "Are you all right?" he murmured.

"Can I tell you a secret?" she asked quietly. He nodded, waiting for her to continue. "I don't want to share you with the whole world." She was so quiet as she said it that he wasn't even sure he'd heard her correctly.

His breath caught, and his chest tightened. Oh, if only that was the next step—After a long, awkward moment, she spoke again. "I think I'm going to go back to sleep now." But instead of sliding off Clark, she settled on top of him, draping a thigh over his hip and squishing her breasts against his hard stomach. Her cheek laid over his heart, which was beating quickly. She murmured good night and sighed, a soft sound that made Kal-El's stomach flip.

He stroked her hair gently and watched her fall asleep. Lois's back rose and fell. He could both feel and hear her heart beating, a steady drum that comforted him. Smiling, he nuzzled his nose into her hair and pulled the sheets up around them again. With Lois sleeping in his arms, everything felt perfect. Everything felt as if nothing could go wrong. It felt as if this was exactly where Kal-El was meant to be.

The problem was this: he knew that they could spend this time together for only so long. Eventually, they would have to return to real life and Metropolis and he would have to be Superman again. She would have to share him with the rest of the world. There was nothing else that could be done. Unless—

Kal-El moved her carefully, tucking her into the bed as he slipped out. He left her, so small in the large bed, and walked into the crystal chamber in the adjoining room.

"Father," he called out. This was his decision to make. He glanced over his shoulder at Lois and knew, then, what he wanted—no, what he needed—to do.


	3. Bruce Wayne August 13, 2001

_**A Perfect Union**_

Rating: PG-13

**Bruce Wayne** -– _August 13, 2001_

Bruce Wayne knew his way around the female body. That wasn't to say he'd slept with dozens of women—as a matter of fact, the list was quite short—but all the women he had shared a bed with he knew intimately. To feel his hand on Lois Lane's hip, to spread his palm over her thigh, brought the same endorphin rush as seeing an old friend after years apart.

But like an old friend, Lois had changed. Sure, her curves held perfect definition now, her skin rid of the acne she'd had when they'd first shared a bed. They had been sixteen then, sent to a summer leadership program in Washington to help divert them. The leadership camp occupied them by day, their budding sexual desire and curiosity occupied them by night. But this Lois, she had lost the innocence of that pretty young teenager who shook simply because a boy was touching her bare shoulder.

This Lois had been branded. This Lois belonged to someone else. As he drew circles around her navel with his index finger, he couldn't shake the guilt that he was touching someone else's lover.

But he was Bruce Wayne; therefore, he didn't care.

Lois squirmed to her other side, curling herself against Bruce's chest. "Thank you," she whispered. "I needed this."

He twirled one of his fingers inside a curl of her hair. "Why the sudden desperate booty call, Lo? I'm not used to girls calling me and yelling, 'Send a jet for me NOW. I desperately need you, and I want you in Gotham.' It was hot, Lois, don't get me wrong, but—abrupt. Even for you."

"He's gone. He didn't say good-bye."

Bruce waited a moment. While his fingers massaged up the muscles around her spine, he considered the best way to approach the—very definitely—touchy subject. "You can't know for sure he's gone. Not yet."

Her voice cracked. "He's gone."

Comforting was not something really in Bruce's repertoire, certainly not something he usually did naked in bed with a girl after sex. But this was Lois. Lois was—special. In more ways than one. "Hey, Lois, come on. This is Superman. He loved you. Anyone with a brain could see that. If he left without telling you good-bye, he did it for a good reason."

"No, Bruce." She sat up, the sheet pooling around her waist. "No. Even if he couldn't see me, he's Superman, he could write a note in less than a second. He could've called. He could've done a number of things. But he chose not to."

"Lois—" What he planned to say? He wasn't sure. But he had to say something. Anything. Well, no, not _any_thing. Lois was a ticking bomb. "Lois, babe, I—I know Superman meant a lot to you, maybe more than a lot, but…what were you to him beyond the reporter who constantly needed to be saved? Do you have proof that he felt anything more?"

"You just finished saying he loved me." Bruce braced himself for the worst, but no slap, no punch, no knee in sensitive regions hit. Instead, Lois confiscated the sheet as she stood, draping it around her front as she looked out over the city. Bruce still had an unimpeded view of her back. Her hips bore red hand prints where he had held onto her during their—lovemaking? Yes, he supposed Lois was the closest he ever came to lovemaking.

"I was more," she said quietly, staring directly at her own reflection. Bruce smoothed the goose bumps off his arms. "I was very definitely more. He didn't look at me as just another person he saved, Bruce. No, he looked at me very much the way you look at me. The same hunger, but—perhaps with a little less lust." She turned her head enough to smile at him properly.

She was striking, her pale skin matched the white sheet, beautiful against the dreary background of Gotham City. Why couldn't he just settle down, learn to love, truly love? He could have someone like Lois to enjoy every night. "You're sure that's the look he was giving you?"

"Bruce." She sighed, and some of the Lois Lane power and presence slumped out of her shoulders. Less confident. Vulnerable. The Lois Lane she never let the world see. "I don't know when, I don't remember it, but I know we've been together. I know I've had him. Been entwined. Total and utter completeness. Just thinking about it, makes the sensual memory burn and ache, and yet I don't remember it happening."

"At all?"

She shook her head. "It's like a dream that was vivid, but you lost the moment you woke up, and the harder you think about it, the more of it you forget."

Bruce stood and yanked his boxers on. Now didn't seem like the time to come up on her without them. He pulled his arms around her, holding the sheet in place. "Hold on to it, Lois. Hold on to it."

She closed her eyes and leaned back into him more. Bruce smiled, and again pushed away the guilt of holding Superman's lover.


End file.
